Hair cutting cape



June 1959 D. J. DARNUTZER ETAL 2,892,909

HAIR CUTTING CAPE Filed Oct. 23, 1958 lNVE/VTORS.

DON/VA JEAN DAR/VUTZEH lO/VE E KOFOED LUC/LLE/P. MARSH A Homer United States Patent HAIR CUTTING CAPE 7 Donna Jean Daruutzer and Lucille R. Marsh, Madison,

and lone E. Kofoed, Eau Claire, Wis.

Application October 23, 1958, Serial No. 769,197

3 Claims. (Cl. 250) This invention relates to a device to be used in hair cutting establishments and more particularly to a cape to be worn by patrons in such establishments to prevent shorn hair from falling upon the clothing and person of the patron or upon the fixtures and floor of the establishment.

Shorn hair is difficult to confine and collect at the time it is sheared from the head of acustomer in a barber shop or beauty shop. In customary trade practice an apron is spread over the customer so as to cover. all of the clothing of the customer upon which shorn hair could fall. This method of protecting the customer from exposure to hair shearings does not, however, prevent the shom hair from falling from the apron worn by the customer onto the floor of the shop where it presents an unsightly appearance and constitutes an unsanitary condition. Furthermore, the apron worn by a customer restricts the customers freedom of movement and has proven to be an uncomfortable garment when worn in warm or humid weather because it impedes the circulation of air around the person and through the clothing of the wearer.

Various devices have been provided to improve upon or to replace the aprons now in use by barbers and beauticians, but they have failed to gain widespread acceptance in the trades.

The herein disclosed invention provides an attractive and functional shoulder length cape for use by barbers and beauticians and is designed to catch hair trimmings as they are shom from the head of a customer and to prevent shearings of hair from falling onto the persons of the customer or operator or onto the floor.

An object of this invention, then, is to provide a hair cutting cape which performs as a repository for clippings of hair as they are shorn from the head of a patron.

A further object is to provide an attractive and functional cape which permits the wearer his comfort and freedom of movement, and which may be adjusted to comfortably and snugly fit about the neck of the wearer.

A still further object is to provide a cape which is easily applied to and removed from a patron and which is easily cleaned and made serviceable for use.

Other objects will become apparent from the drawings and from the following description in which it is intended to illustrate the applicability of the invention without thereby limiting its scope to less than that of all equivalents which will be apparent to one skilled in the art. In the drawings like reference numerals refer to like parts.

Figure l is a plan view of the invention in an expanded position on a plane surface;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the invention as it would appear when in use;

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of Figure 1 showing one embodiment of the lower periphery of the cape;

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of Figure 1 showing another embodiment of the lower periphery of the cape; i

Figure Sis a cross-sectional view of a portion of Figure 1 showing another embodiment of the lower periphery of the cape; and

Figure 6 is a perspective view of a lapel on the cape.

Referring now .to Figure 1, cape 10 is shown in expanded position on a fiat surface and is comprised in the preferred embodiment of a web of thermoplastic resin film material such as polyester film, polyethylene film, polyvinylchloride film or other suitable flexible plastic film material. Cape 10 may also be comprised of woven materials containing natural fibers such as, for example,

cotton fiber, or from synthetic resin fibers such as, for example, polyester, polyacrylic, cellulose acetate, or polyvinyl chloride plastics. Cape 10 is configured in the preferred embodiment to have an outer periphery 13 of I generally circular shape and to have a sector of said parallel to radii of the. circular shape and terminate at the inner periphery 14 of cape 10 in lapel 17 and lapel 18 respectively. As shown in Figure l lapel 17 and lapel 18 may be turned back from the web of material so as to be non-planar with the remainder of cape 10. Lapels 17 and 18 maybe made of the same material as the remainder of cape 10 to be continuous therewith as is shown in Figure l, or if desired lapels 17 and 18 may be made from material independent of cape 10 and may be aflixed thereto by suitable permanent fastening means. If desired, lapels such as lapels 17 and 18 may be omitted entirely. The inner periphery 14 of cape 10 is of substantially circular configuration as shown. Conventional fastening means such as snaps, clips, hooks or buttons may be used to fasten cape10 together about the neck 'i of a wearer. In thepreferred embodiment snap fastening means 20 of conventional ball and socket design are shown operably affixed to lapels 17 and 18 in a manner suitable for use in beauty shops. A plurality of snap ball members 21 are affixed to lapel 17 in a substantially straight line oriented at an angle to edge 11. In Figure 6 the corresponding snap socket members 22 of snaps 20 are shown operably afiixed to cape 10 adjacent to lapel 18. Snap socket members 22 are affixed to cape 10 so as to have the working faces on the inside of the cape and in near adjacency to and in a line substantially parallel with the fold in cape 10 which forms lapel 18. The plurality of snap ball members 21 and snap socket members 22 enable the inner edge 14 of cape 10 to be adjusted in circumference in small increments to provide for a range of neck sizes and thus provide a snug and comfortable fit to be obtained for all patrons. Snap means 20 may also be aligned along the inner peripheral edge of cape 10 in a non-preferred embodiment.

The outer peripheral edge 13 of cape 10 is relatively more rigid than the relatively flexible web material comprising the body of cape 10. A relatively rigid material such as a strip of plastic 15, for example, will not readily drape over an irregular figure such as the shoulders of the person of the wearer. Rather than being curved, as shown, edges 11 and 12 may be more greatly curved to provide greater overlap or may be straight. The semirigid plastic strip 15 offers resistance to bending in all of its dimensions with the least resistance occurring, however, in the smallest dimension, i.e., the fractional inch thickness of plastic strip 15. Thus, when cape 10 is closed and fastened as shown in Figure 2 bending of strip 15 occurs across the thickness of strip 15 when the two ends of the strip are drawn together to close the cape into a conoidal configuration as shown in Figure 2. The semi-rigid strip 15 is turned up as shown in Figure 2. When the semi-rigid peripheral edge 13 is atound the bo t m o pe 19 th purpose .of which is to collect clippings of hair that fall from the head of a patron. The hair may be easily removed from cape 10 by'br-ushing the hair into a receptacle or by garciully removin cape 1.0 and shaking r bnlsh ng h hai into a waste receptacle.

. The semi-rigid outer peripheral edge 15 of 93D? '10 maybe fastened to the ,web of material constitut ng .-the body of cape 1.0 by any one of several means. In Figure 3 there is shown one embodiment that may he used for attaching a relatively flexible web material to a relatively rigid edge material. The web material is com: prised of a woven fabric .or a film web andthe .edge material is a plastic or resin material .or a woven fabric impregnated with such material. A heat seal as shown in Figure 3 may be made byrnelting and eongeal: ing together under pressure two similar or dissimilar resin materials such as, for example, certain polyesters, poly.- ethylenes and polyvinylchlon'de materials. The susceptibility of plastic materials to heat sealing is dependent on the nature of the composition and upon the process used to manufacture the materials.

ible' waterproof plastic having upper front and back body seve in Portions and .shonlsler sovenns psunions sa d web configured in a plane so as to define an essentially elliptical shape defined by an inner peripheral edge defining a neck opening and an outer peripheral edge, said web having a relatively narrow cleavage extending between said peripheral edges, the center line of the cleavage being substantially perpendicular to the major axis of the web, a single .of flexible and non-drapable In Figure 4 another method ofattaching the body of cape 10 to a semi-rigid edge material isshown. Stitching is used as shownin Figure 4 to fasten the two materials together.

Figure 5 shows an outer peripheral edge 15 that is cemented to the body of cape 10 by adhesive. Cementing can be used on most woven or film materials.

While certain modifications and embodiments of the invention have been described, it is of course to be understood that there are a great number of variations which will suggest themselves to anyone familiar with the subject matter and it is to be distinctly understood that this invention is not to be limited except by such limitations as are clearly imposed in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A cape of the type described comprising in cornbination a flexible drapable web of relativtfly'thin flex Single ply waterproof plastic whichis self-supporting but substantially flexi le to eonfq m to the d apedx hap o said web in use, so that said web is draped and not out- Wardly ex e d d in. us sa mb in aifixed to the outer periphery of said web in a substantially perpendicular relation thereto .-;and forming a trough therearound, fastening means operably disposed to secure the edge portions of said web at said cleavage in overlapping relation, at least one of said fastening means aifixed to said web in nearer adjacency to the inner peripheral edge of said web than to the outer peripheral edge thereof.

2. The cape of claim 1, further characterized by curvilinear extending portions of said web extending outwardly toward each other into nearly overlapping relation at said cleavage.

3. The article of claim '1 wherein said fastening means are ball and socket snap fasteners and a row of such fasteners extends in a line at an angle to said inner peripheral edge. a I

References Cited in the file of this patent NITE S ATE PA E TS 1,062,497 Parkhurst May 20, 1913 1,261,575 McLeod Apr. 2, 1918 1,488,444 Shea Mar. 25, 1924 1,516,590 Dorsey Nov. 25, 1924 1,690,927 Dickerson Nov. 6, .1928 2,364,568 Tiscornia Dec. 5, 1944 2,463,198 Pearce Mar. 1, 1949 

